Fourth Sunday of Easter
Today the Church celebrates the Fourth Sunday of Easter, which has also been called “Good Shepherd Sunday,” because the Gospels for each year come from John 10, where Jesus refers to Himself as the Good Shepherd. The Church uses a three-year Sunday cycle of readings (we refer to them as Year A, B, and C), and it is very rare that the Gospels for Years A, B, and C would all have the same theme. But, for this Sunday of Easter, we do.
Of course, this year the readings take on a new meaning for me as I prepare to leave this flock and shepherd (pastor) another flock. So many of you have been very kind in your outpouring of love and support for me during this time of transition. Many of you have asked the question, “Do you really have to leave?” Some have even threatened to write letters to the bishop (and some have followed through). One of the Adrian firefighters must have figured that he didn’t want to mess with middle management; he was sending his letter straight to Pope Francis. In any case, it has been touching to me to have this demonstration of your love for me as your pastor.
At the same time, though, as we celebrate Good Shepherd Sunday, I am not the Good Shepherd. That’s Jesus. I hope I have been a good shepherd, but I am not the Good Shepherd. Families are often the ones who are most cognizant of each other’s faults, and I am sure that you are very cognizant of mine, along with my idiosyncrasies. But this parish is not about me. If I have given that impression, then I owe you a huge apology. This parish is about Jesus, and how the people of this parish can follow Him more closely. It should be Jesus’ voice that you hear and recognize and follow; not mine.
Of course, each priest is called to be as close of an icon of the Good Shepherd as he can be. But each priest has his own gifts and talents and his own failings. Fr. Dave, who is still so loved here, and rightly so, brought with him as pastor his gifts and his failings. I brought with me my gifts and failings. And Fr. Kurian will bring with him his own gifts and failings. Some of our gifts and some of our failings are probably the same. Some of them are certainly different. But we all, Fr. Dave, myself, and Fr. Kurian, all try to lead you to the Good Shepherd.
The temptation in our day is the cult-personality parish. Because of our increased mobility, it is easy to travel 20 or 30 minutes without thinking about it because we like this priest or don’t like that one. Maybe we like this way this one celebrates the Mass better than that one. Maybe we like that one’s homilies better than this one’s. But the Church is not meant to be built around any one person; she is meant to be built around Three Divine Persons: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. If our faith and our religious practice is built around anyone else, it is built on sand, and is always in danger of collapsing.
St. Paul, whose preaching to the Gentiles we heard about today, was no stranger to this. In his first letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul bemoans the fact that there is a cult-personality parish being built in Corinth. He writes:
Whenever someone says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos,” are you not merely human? What is Apollos, after all, and what is Paul? Ministers through whom you became believers, just as the Lord assigned each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth. Therefore, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who causes growth.
He then writes a little further, “So let no one boast about human beings, for everything belongs to you, Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or the present or the future: all belong to you, and you to Christ, and Christ to God.” It isn’t about Fr. Dave, or Fr. Anthony, or Fr. Kurian, or any other priest. Only Jesus, the Good Shepherd, saves. Inasmuch as certain priests lead us to God, let us give thanks to God for them. Inasmuch as we struggle to find God in them, let us pray to God for them. But may our faith be centered in Jesus, and may we follow His voice, so that we can have eternal life and never perish.
Having said all that, I treasure my time that I have spent with you, and the next two and a half months that I will spend with you. Pray for me, that I may be a good shepherd after the heart of the Good Shepherd. Pray that I can continue to build you up as disciples of Jesus in Adrian, those who recognize the voice of the Good Shepherd, who follow Him, and who are led to the verdant pastures in which He wants to give us repose.
